


Leave no one behind

by wanderingsmith



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 08:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1773193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reply was muttered in a quiet tone, "That's not a sound you forget."</p><p>He sucked in a surprised breath before fairly growling, "Where have you heard the sound of a warg before, master hobbit?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave no one behind

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.
> 
>  
> 
> I know there are battle!plot gaps hte size of bodysurfing on gold. I apologize.

Thorin rested against the rocks, letting his half-lidded eyes move between the last of the sun's colours and his assorted companions. His nephews sitting under the overhang, close together as usual; not currently getting in trouble, but that wouldn't last. Dwalin sharpening a long-knife while Balin smoked nearby. And Bilbo Baggins walking back into the clearing from helping Bofur settle the ponies.

Without being aware of it, Thorin eyes stayed on the hobbit as he made his way to where he'd set his kit. Watched as he reached in the bag, not a doubt in his movements, and pulled out his pipe. Organized even when in an unfamiliar adventure.

Watched as their supposed-burglar looked toward the same dying sunset Thorin had admired minutes ago.

Watched him suddenly freeze. And was standing besides him by the time the halfling hissed.

"Wargs!"

Only taking an instant to listen, Thorin started to reply, "Do not let your im-" and then whipped his eyes out beyond their hill-camp, beyond the forest below and to more distant hills as he heard the faintest howl. Taking a deep breath and quickly going over their encampment in his mind to be certain they'd taken all the precautions that were available, he finally looked at the halfling besides him, staring out just as Thorin had been, expression surprisingly fierce. "You have good ears, halfling."

The reply was muttered in a quiet tone, "That's not a sound you forget."

He sucked in a surprised breath before fairly growling, "Where have you heard the sound of a warg before, master hobbit?"

The dark roil of fury inside him at the thought of this gentle creature ever encountering the terrible beasts of the enemy of the dwarrows made him tense, but Thorin stayed quiet, seeing memories cross that beardless, and yet not-young face. Automatically respecting another who remembered pain and sorrow. The rest of the company that was near enough to be heard was equally silent, though he didn't doubt looks were being exchanged at the evening's unpleasant surprises.

"Many years ago, there was a summer with almost no rain. By the time the first berries should have been picked, traders had told the Thain that there would be little food coming from Outside either, the lands of men also beset. Every hobbit that could walk and carry spent the summer bringing water from the Brandywine to all the fields, praying we could raise anything to help survive the winter. At night the hills were flame as the dry woods burned, the smoke making everyone's eyes and lungs burn. All the food left in the Shire was taken to the deepest cold-smials in the desperate hope that some would remain edible through a second season. And everyone lived on short rations."

The arms the hobbit held across his belly made it plain this was no repeated tale; Bilbo Baggins had lived through famine.

"Then the snow fell early and the Tooks and Bucklandlanders started training every hobbit for what they knew would come. The children and the infirm were moved to the deepest tunnels, along with what food there was, and all the water we could find containers for. Walls and barricades built around an area large enough to hold all the people of the Shire. By the time the river froze, packs of wolves came. But they kept right by us. People cheered, but the Thain said they were running from worse."

"And then the goblins came during a cloudy week. We had bows and slingshots lining the walls day and night; bands of goblins harassing us. Small bands, scouts. Then two days later..." the hobbit's jaw clenched, still staring out into the night, and though Thorin wished to reach out.. he knew *he* would not appreciate it, in the other's shoes. 

"The first band of orcs riding on wargs came in the rays of the first dying sun we'd seen in days. We could barely see them. The adults defended the walls and gates as best they could with sharp weapons or tools, several times having to try to push out past the wall for repairs to be done to breaks. The tweens and smaller adults either manned bow and slings.. or, if we had no such skill, we brought everyone replacement weapons and arrows. Or gathered the wounded away from danger."

"We held for 3 days; until a company of Rangers came." The hobbit finally turned away from the view, looking at Thorin with eyes that were still half in the past and a sad smile twisting his lips, "I was 20. And better at creeping than with a bow. No one.." This time Thorin did reach out to grip a small shoulder, the shiver that had crept into the hobbit's voice calling to him, "No one else could have gotten as far behind the lines as my mother fell."

The words made memories of Azanulbizar blaze across his mind; his grandfather, Frerin, hundreds, thousands, of other friends and loyal dwarrows. It took Thorin minutes to find even a grinding version of his voice. "I grieve with thee."

The halfling seemed to understand that his words were more than rote, his eyes focusing away from the past and into Thorin's with sad understanding. Then he gave a wan smile, "You should have mentioned you were going to hunt wargs, I wouldn't have argued about coming."

**Author's Note:**

> This was a bit of nonsense that appeared a long time ago and just never saw the light. reading Moonrose91's A Home for my Heart and her Bilbo convinced me to clean it up enough to post :)


End file.
